What if….

What if the comments about Jews made at the Labour Party conference were made about another ethnic group? Would the reaction have been the same?

One delegate warned those supporting tougher action on antisemitism to “be careful”.

Yet what if someone had suggested, at a Labour Party fringe meeting, that they should be entitled to question whether black people were genetically inferior to whites or Islam was a supremacist religion and a violent threat to the West?

“Some people have made offensive comments, it doesn’t mean they’re inherently anti-Semitic and hate Jews. They just go over the top when they criticise Israel.”

….but replaced antisemitism with racism or Islamophobia? I would suggest that there would be an outcry.

The MacPherson Inquiry set out, in very clear terms, the definition of a racist incident as “any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.”

This should apply as much to Jews as it does to any other minority group.

So the next time a Jewish person says that they feel unsafe at a Labour Party event, perhaps it would be a good idea to listen to them before we shout them down and say they are simply being mischievous.

Nick Lowles is chief executive of HOPE not hate, and author of 'White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18', 'Hooligans: The A-Z of Britain's Football Hooligan Gangs', and co-author of 'Mr Evil: The Secret Life of Pub Bomber and Killer David Copeland'.